Unripe fruit of mountain pawpaw bitter

There is a report from Purdue University online that the unripe fruit of Carica pubescens is boiled or roasted in the Andes and eaten as a vegetable (1).  I tried boiling some small very unripe green fruit. After ten minutes they were intensely bitter and were a bit too firm. After 1 and 2 hours of boiling the bitterness was reduced considerably and the texture was much softer and better, but I still found them too bitter to be enjoyable. 

It seems likely either the locals resort to it only when they are desperate or they have acquired a taste for the bitterness, which is very unusual with food but not unheard of. It is also possible they are normally cooked for extremely long periods, for days perhaps by fire, but not very likely. It also seems possible the report is inaccurate, although this would be surprising coming from Purdue, possibly it was confused with the more widely reported use of unripe Carica papaya fruit as a vegetable.

A New Zealand nursery also says the unripe fruit of the mountain pawpaw-babaco cross "rainbow valley" can be eaten as a vegetable but it is also bitter.

1.  https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/1492/fruits.html

"Electric" cars powered by coal from national grid

 Adverting Complaints Authority COMPLAINT NUMBER 23/033 

ADVERTISER Toyota New Zealand 

ADVERTISEMENT Toyota New Zealand Television DATE OF MEETING 20 February 2023 OUTCOME No Grounds to Proceed Advertisement: 

The television advertisement for Toyota is promoting the Lexus RZ car. The voiceover says "The driver wanted to feel the road, to respect the planet …". The Lexus RZ is described as "all electric". 

Complaint: This ad says the Lexus R2 is fully electric and allows you to care for the planet. 

It is completely false that electric propulsion cars are fully electric in New Zealand if they are powered off of the national grid as 20% of our power is generated by coal. 

This is not only false it is dangerously so as people who drive them can be self-righteously deluded they are saving the planet when they are destroying it as much as conventional car users, perhaps more. 

This is not the fault of the car manufacturer, it is a failure of government policy that our national grid is not fully based on renewables, adding more electric cars to the road will probably mean far more coal will be need to be burned with the current grid. 

I have heard of someone in New Zealand who powers his electric car with his own solar panels, this is much better but still can’t be called fully electric as petroleum is still used in the mining, manufacturing and transportation of solar. 

This applies equally to many other ads for "electric cars" of other companies of course but I understand I can only complain about a specific ad. 

 

The relevant provisions were Advertising Standards Code - Principle 2, Rule 2(b), Rule 2(h); Principle 2: Truthful Presentation: Advertisements must be truthful, balanced and not misleading. Rule 2 (b) Truthful Presentation: Advertisements must not mislead or be likely to mislead, deceive or confuse consumers, abuse their trust or exploit their lack of knowledge. This includes by implication, inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, unrealistic claim, omission, false representation or otherwise. Obvious hyperbole identifiable as such is not considered to be misleading. Rule 2(h) Environmental Claims: Environmental claims must be accurate and able to be substantiated by evidence that reflects scientific and technological developments. 23/033 2 

The Chair noted the Complainant was concerned the advertisement was misleading because it describes electric propulsion cars as fully electric and good for the planet without taking into account the source of the electricity. The Chair said the term “all electric”, in this context, means the car is “powered purely by battery” 1 , without using any fuel. She noted this term is generally applied to such vehicles regardless of the source of the electricity used to power the car. 

The Chair said consumers interested in electric cars would be aware the claim related to the battery power source and many consumers choose electrified cars because they produce fewer exhaust emissions than petrol or diesel cars. 

The Chair said the advertisement was not likely to mislead or confuse consumers and did not meet the threshold to breach Principle 2, Rule 2(b) or Rule 2(h) of the Advertising Standards Code. The Chair ruled there were no grounds for the complaint to proceed. 

Chair’s Ruling: Complaint No Grounds to Proceed

To the office of Hon James Shaw, Minister of Climate Change and Associate Minister for the Environment (Biodiversity). 01/03/2023

Dear Minister,

 I think the encouragement of electric "clean" cars with things like discounts is a deadly and ridiculous "greenwash" while 20% of our electricity grid is powered by coal.

 

It allows people to smugly and self-righteously think they are doing something for the environment when they are actually making things far worse. 

 

Adding more "electric" cars to the road will mean we have to burn more coal given the complete lack of government leadership in encouraging the gargantuan expansion of renewables needed to power a nation of car addicts. It will also drive up the price of scarce electricity for essentials such as household heating.

 

Electric cars also still produce 40% of the emissions of petrol cars, it is misleading to call them clean. If more people in the world end up using them than petrol cars or use them more often because they are cheaper we may be even worse off in terms of emissions. 

 

I think we will have to move away from our addiction to transportation and focus on reducing and eliminating the need and desire to travel such great distances over and over for work, shopping and play, presumably through physical localization and decentralization and working from home where possible.

 

I see the environment as the most important issue today but have little or no faith in the Greens to come up with anything relevant. 

 

Sincerely

 

David Nicholls

Rodgersia aesculifolia rhizome "edibility"

There only seems to be one reference to Rodgersia aesculifolia being edible. The rhizome was once used a famine food in Tibet (1), no details on preparation are given.

It interested me a potential understory food crop as it grows in full shade (2). 

On the plus side the rhizome is reasonably large and free of fibers. I tried boiling it for 15 and 30 minutes. It has a mostly bland flavor, rather like cardboard or wood, with a slightly unpleasant cough medicine taste, but acceptable I think. The texture is the big drawback, it is very dry in the mouth, basically unpleasant and difficult to eat. Dry woody particles stay in the mouth for some time after swallowing. If anything it was even worse thinly sliced and briefly fried. I did not have enough to try it roasted. I swallowed a small amount, noticed no ill-effects, it seems to be safe to consume.

Edible rhizomes of a number of other species are best eaten when young such as Cyperus papyrus and Canna glauca, it is possible the rhizomes I tried were too old. I've tried the older rhizomes of Cyperus papyrus and they were similarly woody.

Unless the younger rhizomes turn out to be more palatable I'd say this plant is not worth growing as a food crop unless a way can be found to alter the texture, fermenting it or mashing and soaking it in water or milk to make porridge or soup might help but I doubt it.  

I also expect it grows too slowly to be relied on regularly for food.

References.

1. Wild Food Plants used by the Tibetans of Gongba Valley (Zouqu county, Gansu, China) Y Kang, L Luczaj, J Kang, F Wang, J Hou, Q Guo. 2014. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 10/20.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3933068/)

2. An Encyclopedia of Shade Perennials. W. George Schmid. 2002.

Some less well known perennial temperate edible aquatic plants

The following are some less well known perennial edible aquatic species for hardiness zone 9. I see them as less well known as they are not listed in the best single source on aquatic edibles by far, the book "Edible Water Gardens" by Nick Romanowski.

Apium nodiflorum. "Sedanina" "Fool's Watercress". This is an outstanding vegetable in flavor and productivity, it is even reasonably productive throughout zone 9 winter. The leaves and leaf stems are edible, tasting much like celery. It spreads vegetatively in the water and new leaves quickly replace picked ones. In my experience above ground parts die off after setting seed so there is a lull in productivity in summer, but new growth emerges from the soil shortly after, I can't tell if this new growth is from new plants or the same plant. Perhaps overlooked in many places because of it's unfortunate misleading name "Fool's Watercress", it is better than watercress from my point of view, easier to grow, not needing running water, grows very well in still water. It will grow in full sun or considerable shade, much more compact growth and smaller leaves in full sun, seems to be best in semi-shade. Some authorities in New Zealand are concerned about this plant as a weed, hopefully they don't ban this excellent crop in their probably futile crusade to protect natives. References: Wild edible fool's watercress, a potential crop with nutraceutical properties. Carla Guijarro-Real et al 2019. Ethnobotanical and Ecological Studies of Wild Edible Plants in Jordan. Saleh A. Al-Qura’n 2010.

Rotala rotundifolia. This plant is eaten in India (potherb) and China ( "Wild edible plants collected by Hani from terraced rice paddy ecosystem in Honghe Protectorate, Yunnan, China." Luo et al. 2019. Ethnobotany of Rewalsar Himalaya. Sood & Thakur 2004). The leaves & stem are edible, I also eat the tiny white roots that grow along the stem. I eat it uncooked. It is basically bland in flavor but it's crimson coloring is very ornamental in a dish. It is of good productivity in summer. It does not die back in winter, but there is no new growth. The plant is common in the aquarium trade.

Colocasia fallax grows rather slowly in water in temperate climates, a bit too slow to be of much use I find. There are very few references to it being eaten, the tubers, stem and leaves have been eaten (after cooking presumably) in India (An ethnobotanical note on wild edible plants of Upper Eastern Himalaya, India, G Murtem and P Chaudhry. 2016.) and the stems are a famine food in China (Food Plants of China. Shiu-ying Hu. 2005.)

I have not gotten around to eating it, I expect it is like taro in flavor and extensive cooking-time requirement to eliminate toxins. The leaves do not die down in zone 9 winter as taro leaves do. It also spreads slowly.

I'm pretty certain this plant is the New Zealand native Myriophyllum propinquum  

( https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/myriophyllum-propinquum/ ). It was sold as Hippuris vulgaris, which it resembles, by a New Zealand aquarium supplier, which is edible but prohibited in New Zealand. Believing it was what they said it was I ate it quite often before realizing it had been misidentified. I have continued to eat it, even though there is no record of it ever being eaten anywhere, because it is bland in flavor, which almost always means something is safe to eat and because I have noticed no ill effects and because several other Myriophyllum are eaten overseas and none are known to be toxic. 

I thought the tiny leaves might be a choking hazard but this has not been the case. It is reasonably productive and younger growth has a pleasant enough texture, older grow is a bit tough and chewy, I suppose it is a bit visually interesting or novel in a dish.

Cardamine lyrata. "Japanese Cress". The leaves and (numerous but tiny and threadlike) roots are edible  https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Cardamine+lyrata

Food Plants of China. Shiu-ying Hu. 2005. (young shoots). 

Unfortunately the bland tasting leaves are pretty small, usually less than 1 cm wide, it is unusually time consuming harvesting them, it is tempting to try to eat a bunch along with the stems but the stems are usually too tough to eat. It also spreads very aggressively horizontally across the surface of the water smothering other plants. Aside from these horizontal shoots it is not very productive. I find it more of a problem than anything. I keep it in a tub a long way away from other water plants and rarely harvest it except for the whole inflorescence, the small white flowers and flower stem. It doesn't seem to be reported edible anywhere but I have been adding it raw to salads or as an edible garnish for a while. It is basically tasteless but pretty.     

This plant is available through the aquarium trade.

Cryptotaenia japonica, mitsuba. There only seems to be one reference to this outstanding vegetable growing in water; Cornucopia II by Stephen Facciola states the Kansai variety grows in water. I tried what is probably this variety, I found it does survive and set seed in water in but grows extremely slowly and remains very small, almost completely unproductive. But this vegetable is so valuable it probably deserves further trials. 

Filipendula ulmaria "meadowsweet" grows well in shallow water. The leaves are often reported to be edible when young, I find them a bit too chewy and dry but they have a pleasant interesting "root beer" flavor due to coumerin content. The roots are also rarely reported to be edible

 https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Filipendula+ulmaria

 but don't seem to have been described anywhere, 

 they are about the width of a pencil, reasonably long, fiber free, crunchy and have a very pleasant distinct "root beer" flavor, even stronger than the leaves. I've only eaten them raw. The roots don't appear to be produced in great abundance but I have not been growing it long enough to be sure, they definitely deserve further research. Since the plant is clump forming it should be possible to harvest roots from part of the clump while leaving the rest to grow for continuous future harvest. The flowers are also edible, I have not tried them yet. Even the seeds have been reported to be edible. 

https://gallowaywildfoods.com/meadowsweet-identification-distribution-edibility/   

Filipendula kamtschatica also reportedly grows in shallow water, and is edible. It does not seem to be readily available, I've not tried it.

Bacopa caroliniana (center of photo) is also aquatic and edible

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG392

Leaves and stems have a pleasant flavor unlike the more well known Bacopa monnieri (the most bitter thing called "food" I've ever tasted). I've found it to be productive in the height of summer provided it does not have competition from more aggressive plants. 

I found this plant in the aquarium trade.

Callitriche stagnalis, Water starwort. Shui-ma-chi. The whole plant is, or was, eaten in Taiwan (Food Plants of China. Shui-ying Hu. 2005). It is a weed in New Zealand, it does not seem to be available commercially. I have not grown it for a while, I don't remember anything very distinctive about its favor, I found it reasonably productive. It can grow floating in the water and only grows about 1 cm above the surface.

I also tried Lindernia rotundifolia, the tender leaves of which are eaten in India (Ethnic uses of some wetland plants by the Bodo community in Udalgiri district of Assam, India. Boro & sarma 2013.) Despite a report that it is cold tolerant it did not survive the winter here in zone 9.

The pseudo-equity of racial and gender inequality statistics

Statistics comparing inequality between racial and gender groups are relentless in the news lately, signaling great ethical concern about inequality. It is not always "woke", reports that men are doing worse than women at university, or European birth rates are far behind non-European birth rates, for instance are there too, though less common. This seems scientific because it involves numbers but there is ideology behind organizing data in this particular way that serves to reinforce, and distract from, the inherently unequal power structures of society.

Firstly it divides and conquers, racial or gender groups doing less well are encouraged to resent those racial or gender groups doing better than their group (in some particular parameter) rather than those richer and more powerful than them who are of diverse race and gender. It also discourages solidarity with all others in the same economic class regardless of their gender or race.  

Secondly it implies the amount of inequality in society does not matter as long as it is evenly spread between genders and races. It does not matter if people are starving to death as long as it is "fair", as long as the races and genders are equally represented among the casualties. 

Finally it masks inequality within groups which may be greater than inequality between groups. This suits the elites of all racial and gender groups.   

Unripe kawakawa fruit as vegetable

It is well known that the ripe fruits of the common New Zealand native plant kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum) are edible, though they have a very strong unusual flavor. I've found the birds usually get the ripe fruit where I am so I decided to try the green unripe fruit as food. They have a sharp taste raw, a bit like mint, too strong for my liking and are also a bit dry, but boiled they loose their pungency and dryness, becoming milder in flavor the longer you boil them, but still with a distinct peppery-mint taste. They have a pleasing consistency, like baby corn. An acceptable vegetable to add to stir fries or similar dishes in my opinion. Their rather small size being the only drawback.

There are no reports of the unripe fruit being toxic in humans or animals and many herbivores like eating kawakawa so it is highly likely poisoning in animals would have been noticed. However rats died when fed dried leaves of this plant at 60% of their diet (1) so perhaps some caution may be advisable as the leaves and ripe and unripe fruit taste similar so presumably have similar chemistry. 60% seems like a lot, rats might die on 60% of a lot of things I suppose. This report does not seem to worry anyone, the leaves are popular as a tea, are used medicinally, and are increasingly being used as food, there have been no reports of toxicity in humans and another study concludes the tea is safe in moderate quantities at least (2). It is possible cooking removes any possible toxins since it reduces the intense flavor.

 The plant is also notable for producing fruit in full shade or near full shade, the plant will also grow in deep shade in the understory where little else can but I don't think it will produce fruit in deep shade. It has also adapted very well to human colonization of New Zealand, often growing wild in suburbs. Fruit only occurring on female plants is a drawback.   

References.

(1) A Field Guide to the Native Edible Plants of New Zealand. Andrew Crow. 2004.

(2) Composition and safety evaluation of tea from New Zealand kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum). C Butt et al. Ethnopharmicol. 2019.   

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30572092/

Community Democracy as Healing Therapy

 An obscure utopian political ideology few people take seriously is direct democracy, citizens assembling to decide things for themselves rather than electing and paying state representatives to do it "for them". There are various forms such as libertarian municipalism proposed by Social Ecologists seeking an ecologically sustainable and egalitarian society, free of domination of both humans and nature. Everyone would take part in making laws in their human-scaled local communities which would be confederated in a global network. This would normally be in conjunction with maximum local economic self-reliance. This is sometimes considered eco-anarchism or green-anarchism (1, 2) , seemingly little more than something harmless and exotic for idealistic bookworms, though there are much less extreme versions (3). 

Most people would dismiss this as utopian fantasy given the ugly mess that is at least half of human nature and history so far. Until recently I would have agreed, scientists have clearly established all primates have instincts for domination and humans are definitely no exception (4). This instinct for domination is probably the main reason revolutionary attempts to bring about equality have been utterly catastrophic.

Recently however a branch of therapy called mentalizing or mentalization based treatment (MBT) has been developed that appears to offer a way out of most of not all of the instinctive psychology of domination. Mentalizing therapy has reportedly been effective in treating personality disorders (5) and shows promise in the treatment of Asperger's syndrome (6). Certain personality disorders such as narcissism and psychopathy, account for most of the domineering behavior in society and many people in powerful positions possess these instinct based* disorders (7) (called "disorders" because they violate the "prosocial" norms that make civilized society possible, they might be "healthy" in wild animals). Both narcissists and psychopaths tend to view people more as objects to be used or discarded, than beings having thoughts and feelings to be respected (not just other people, they may see themselves in physical terms and insight into their own thoughts and feelings may be inaccurate or non-existent.) Asperger's, sharing this tendency to treat people as objects, though less maliciously, is also implicated in domination. It is believed many CEOs are Asperger's, corporations and their stellar products, such as computers or cars, might even be impossible or much more difficult without this "gift" for assembling people like objects or parts of a machine (there also might not be an environmental crisis or so much servitude in work). The narrow focus of high functioning autism may also give an advantage if power or wealth is the focus, the sociopath sees the peripheral damage they do in pursuit of a goal and doesn't care, the Asperger's does not even notice. 

Personality disorders also abound in criminals, who take dominance too far to try to become alphas in society, making the state, police and prisons absolutely essential in order to deal with them.  

Mentalizing is "a focus on mental states in oneself and in others, especially in connection with the explanation of behavior" (8). I find it hard to believe something that sounds so simple could work but apparently this tendency is dysfunctional, weak or absent in people with personality disorders and all of us when we are very emotional. Seeing someone, including oneself, as an object, is contrary to mentalizing. Practitioners of mentalizing are quick to point out it is far from simple or easy in practice to get someone with a personality disorder to metalize and takes months or years of therapy. 

Mentalizing therapy is an incubator for mentalizing, as children we learn to mentalize from an adult caregiver mentalizing about us, usually the mother so far in history. People with personality disorders can reportedly learn to mentalize largely in the same way in a well managed therapy group or one to one therapy. It is believed mentalizing is mostly a human cultural invention (absent in other animals including other primates) that must be learned (9) unlike the universal instincts for domination and deference. 

It has been said that people with personality disorders are immature (11) if this is true mentalization therapy may be a from of "child" rearing of people who were not socialized properly due to abusive, indulgent, laissez fare or negligent upbringings or perhaps excessive instinctive drives.

What if community scale political gatherings could be developed to become supportive, therapeutic incubators for mentalizing in the same way, geared towards helping and extending "the other" not opposing them. Basically the opposite of the the hard, blindly instinctive winner takes all competition for domination political gatherings "have to be" at present (and which everyone except narcissists and psychopaths avoids like the plague). What if people with domineering tenancies could be "healed" or brought into civilization through such meetings through other members, utilizing the sophisticated and innovative, albeit complex and counter-intuitive, helping techniques of mentalizing therapy, effectively inverting the competitive game or warfare techniques of pedestrian politics. It may be the techniques of mentalizing can be adapted to replace the traditional "rules" of politics generally, if you can learn to work with and help psychopaths and narcissists surely you can do the same with people with "opposing" political views. An important element of mentalizing therapy for narcissism is getting beyond "psychic equivalence" - rigid certainty one is right based on feeling (12) - this is rampant in mainstream politics, getting beyond it in all parties could lead to creative collaboration in solving problems rather than numerical dominance contests. Crucially conducting effective mentalizing therapy also requires being genuinely humble in outlook and approach, dispensing with your own narcissism, it's definitely not about being superior to or knowing more than "the other" (12). 

That could be the "price" of political participation and being able to shape your community and society, you be prepared to develop a mature personality. 

It is not hard to think of problems with this, small scale experimentation and research would clearly be wise before considering attempts at widespread implementation. We would still need to ask do we really want an egalitarian society, would it really be better overall? It has for instance been suggested a world without personality disorders would be "less stressful but deadly dull" **(11). But this is the first thing I've ever seen that makes equality a realistic possibility in the face of our powerful instincts for dominance and deference*** (11).

Our community-free mass "society" is inherently indifferent to individual personality, you can generally have any personality, no matter how feral. This could be mistaken for freedom but people with personality disorders lack genuine self control and their behavior diminishes the choices of those around them. It's a miracle there are any healthy personalities in this high-tech wilderness (13).

Perhaps one day our personalities will not be left to chance, we may be able to choose to sculpt them with the same sophistication and high standards we currently reserve for technology. Maybe then we could finally start creating a truly free civilized society.

Note: This argument is based on my non-professional interpretation of mentalizing, I hope I have not overestimated its potential. Originally posted in 2022, updated in 2024 in light of Ref 12.

References.

1) The Impossible Community. Realizing Communitarian Anarchism. John P Clark. 2013.

2) The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy. Murray Bookchin. 1982.  

3)Slow Democracy. Rediscovering community bringing decision making back home. Susan Clark & Woden Teachout. 2012.

4) Our Inner Ape. Franz de Waal. 2005. 

5) Mentalization-based treatment for personality disorders.  A Practical Guide. Anthony Bateman. Peter Fonagy. Oxford. 2016.

6) Mentalization-Based Treatment in Groups for Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Katharina Kramer et al. Frontiers. 2021. 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.708557/full.

7) On Narcissism, Evolution and Group Dynamics. Sigmund Karterud. Group Analysis 43(3), pg 301-310 

* Ref 6 covers strong similarity between narcissistic personality disorder in humans and alpha male behavior in chimpanzees. Ref 10 says psychopaths are more in touch with their animal instincts than the rest of us.

8) The Mentalizing Guidebook. Janne Oestergaard Hagelquist 2015

9) Avoidant and Narcissistic Personality Disorders. S. Simonsen, S Euler. Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice. Second Edition. 2019.

10) Mentalization-based Group Therapy (MBT-G) A theoretical, clinical and research manual. Sigmund Karterud. 2015.

11) Emotional Vampires. Dealing With People Who Drain You Dry. A Bernstein. 2000. 

** "In addition to being pains in the neck," (some) "Emotional Vampires" (people with personality disorders) "are artists, heroes and leaders. Because of their immaturity they can do things we can't. The forces of darkness always swirl at the edges of creativity and great deeds. A world without vampires would be less stressful, but deadly dull" (p12).  

12) Biosociology of Dominance and Deference. Alan Mazer. 2005.

12) Mentalization based Treatment for Pathological Narcissism. Robert Drzek, Brandon Unrich, Anthony Bateman. 2023.

13) Big Science (song) Big Science (album). Laurie Anderson. 1982.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTHiN6Qwdgs

*** I have not attempted to go into the instinct for deference much in this thesis, without which the instinct for dominance would not get far. I may try to go into that some other time.